Nearly 1 million asylum requests in the EU in 2022

By RENATA BRITO
Associated Press

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Nearly one million people applied for international protection in the European Union in 2022, the most since the refugee crisis of 2015-2016. The EU agency for asylum said Wednesday that 966,000 asylum applications were made, up 50% from 2021. The figure doesn’t include more than 4 million Ukrainian refugees who were granted temporary protection in the EU. The top three nationalities of asylum-seekers were Syrians, Afghans and Turks. The European agency linked the increase to continuing easing of COVID-19 travel restrictions, increasing food insecurity and conflicts in many parts of the world.